Many of us have heard stories about cagey songwriters who scream at people out for interrupting them during moments of inspiration.

Many of us have heard stories about reclusive screenwriters and directors who lose their minds and throw things when people — even their families — enter their offices and disturb the creative atmosphere.

Many of us have heard stories about cutthroat journalists whose success has been a result of their willingness to do hatchet jobs and takedown pieces.

The interesting thing to me that these stories are often admired more than they are questioned; spoken of in mystical terms more than they are interrogative; accepted more than they are pushed back against.

Should we consider any artistic process that hurts other people a good artistic process? No, I don't think we should. Any artistic process that hurts people more than it heals is an artistic process that demands questioning.

I suppose that all sounds very idealistic to write and ask of people, but I think it is, at the very least, an ideal that all artists should strive for; that their artistic process would heal more than it would hurt.